2013-01-29   The Year of the Snake

Some websites list strengths and weaknesses of people born in the Year of the Snake. I'm not sure whether or not to believe what the websites say. One site says that women born in the Year of the Snake make good housewives, but they are very irritable!  

Friends in Hong Kong sometimes ask me "Is there anything you do not like to eat?".
I usually answer "dog meat, snails, frogs and snake".  Eating snakes is not a problem for Chinese people, I know. In fact I sometimes tell the joke that if Adam and Eve had been Chinese, they would have eaten the snake which tempted them!

Maybe one good thing we can say about snakes is that they are very "down to earth" and "keep a low profile". This is something we can all imitate: we can try to be more practical ("down to earth") in our lives, and can also try not to "make waves" unless we have to. For some people a "high profile" is good for business, but for most of us, most of the time, a low profile makes for a life with less pressure.

My favourite snake story is the one about Viper in the Kung Fu Panda follow-up movie "Secrets of the Furious Five". Viper was born without fangs and timidly stayed at home, afraid to go out. But then one day when her father was in danger, she courageously used her ribbon dance skills to defeat a gorilla bandit threatening her father. I wish all Ming Pao readers good health and an extra supply of courage in the Year of the Snake!

People born in the Year of the Snake are keen and cunning, quite intelligent and wise.  They are great mediators and good at doing business